SHERLOCK HOLMES OF THE FORESTS 



By G. H. Dacy 



A DECIDED abatement in forest fires of incendiary 

 origin has been consummated in the National For- 

 ests of California since the establishment of arson squads 

 and forest detective service among the organized forest 

 rangers of the Golden State. Previous to the inception 

 of this Sherlock Holmes service of the forest primeval, 

 anywhere from 150 to 300 man-started fires broke out 

 in the government timberlands each fire season. Last 

 year, as a direct result of the arson squad activities, the 

 total number of incendiary fires was reduced to 28 and all 

 evidences point toward the potential reduction of this 

 source of fire evil to a negligible amount. 



In many instances, the neglect and carelessness of hunt- 

 ers, fishermen and campers are responsible for the out- 

 break of forest fires of human origin. Despite that the 

 national woodlands are liberally posted with signs warn- 

 ing tourists and campers to exercise special care in put- 

 ting out camp fires and in the general use of matches and 



lighted tobacco, innumerable cases of woodland blazes 

 have emanated from sheer negligence. During the fire 

 season from June until November, many of the western 

 forests are so dry that a single match carelessly dis- 

 carded from a passing automobile may cause a destruc- 

 tive conflagration which may destroy thousands of feet 

 of valuable lumber in the making. It is not that Uncle 

 Sam finds pleasure in running to earth and punishing such 

 offenders, his emissaries simply function along those 

 lines in order to impress upon all forest users the basic 

 importance of exercising every effort to prevent fire and 

 that unless they practice such precautions, trouble is 

 in store for them. 



The forest rangers who compose the arson squads have 

 been trained in modern methods of sleuthing and they 

 employ all the arts and artifices of the metropolitan 

 plain-clothesmen in assembling and interpreting evidence 

 and in gathering data which will lead to the identification 



BURNING GLASS USED TO START FIRE INCENDIARY CAPTURED 



These photographs indicate developments in detective work worthy of the best that Sherlock Holmes ever did. No. I shows 

 the trackers finding the "plant" of an incendiary fire in the forest. No. 2 shows a bunch of partly burned matches. No. 3 

 shows the wire which must have held something to set the matches on fire. A search in the ashes revealed a burning glass. 

 The trackers quickly deduced that the plant had been constructed to start a fire twenty- four hours after the incendiary had left. 

 They reconstructed the plant as shown in No. 4 and ultimately traced, captured and convicted the criminal. 



